Oklahoma aims for another upset vs. No. 25 Wisconsin
Oklahoma upset Florida to open the Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday afternoon. Now, the Sooners will try for another upset when they face No. 25 Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon in the Bahamas. The Sooners improved to 4-0 on the season with the victory -- their third away from their home court -- behind an impressive showing from senior forward Rashard Odomes, who hit 5 of 7 shots for 11 points and grabbed three rebounds with a block and a steal in just 15 minutes of work. The Sooners held the Gators to 5-of-17 shooting from distance and out-rebounded Florida 48-34 in the contest and finished with a 15-7 advantage on the offensive glass. "From the start I thought we were aggressive to the boards," Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. "We got some big rebounds (inside), and our perimeter guys rebounded pretty well, too. That was a big key in the game. Limiting them to generally one shot was huge for us." Despite Wisconsin's early success, rebounding has not been a strong suit for the Badgers, who arrived on the island ranking 11th in the Big Ten with an average of 37.0 per game including just 8.7 offensive boards. They've made up for that deficiency by shooting extremely well this season and were averaging 22 3-point attempts per game before Oklahoma held the Badgers to just eight attempts Wednesday afternoon. Wisconsin made only one of those attempts and shot 42.6 percent overall but held Stanford to 27.6 percent shooting including a 2-for-18 mark from beyond the arc. Nate Reuvers played a big role in Stanford's shooting woes. The 6-foot, 10-inch sophomore forward blocked a tournament-record nine Cardinal shots while finishing with eight points, five rebounds and a steal. Through Wisconsin's first four games, Reuvers has blocked 12 shots. "That's pretty cool," Reuvers said in an interview with uwbadgers.com after the game. "That's tough to do. Nine blocks is a lot. I'm just trying to play weak-side defense every time they come and just helping my guys out when they got beat off the dribble." Oklahoma got four blocks in its tournament opener from senior center Jamuni McNeace who finished with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six rebounds. He'll like spend much of the game Thursday matched up against Wisconsin's Ethan Happ, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week who scored 16 points with 12 rebounds against Stanford. Happ's inside presence helped Wisconsin overcome its cold shooting from 3-point range. "He's just wheeling and dealing in there," Reuvers told the website. "We don't need to hit threes when he is playing like he has been playing." Thursday will mark the fourth meeting in five seasons between the two teams. Wisconsin beat Oklahoma, 69-56, in the 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis title game. The team's split a home and home series in the 2015 and 2016 seasons with each side winning on its home court. |